Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.

Co-occurrence of cryptic species raises theoretically relevant questions regarding their coexistence and ecological similarity. Given their great morphological similitude and close phylogenetic relationship (i.e., niche retention), these species will have similar ecological requirements and are expe...

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Autores principales:	Carmen Gabaldón, Javier Montero-Pau, Manuel Serra, María José Carmona
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1421f12896ed40ef82b4024fe02eaea7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1421f12896ed40ef82b4024fe02eaea72021-11-18T07:56:21ZMorphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0057087https://doaj.org/article/1421f12896ed40ef82b4024fe02eaea72013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23451154/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Co-occurrence of cryptic species raises theoretically relevant questions regarding their coexistence and ecological similarity. Given their great morphological similitude and close phylogenetic relationship (i.e., niche retention), these species will have similar ecological requirements and are expected to have strong competitive interactions. This raises the problem of finding the mechanisms that may explain the coexistence of cryptic species and challenges the conventional view of coexistence based on niche differentiation. The cryptic species complex of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis is an excellent model to study these questions and to test hypotheses regarding ecological differentiation. Rotifer species within this complex are filtering zooplankters commonly found inhabiting the same ponds across the Iberian Peninsula and exhibit an extremely similar morphology-some of them being even virtually identical. Here, we explore whether subtle differences in body size and morphology translate into ecological differentiation by comparing two extremely morphologically similar species belonging to this complex: B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas. We focus on three key ecological features related to body size: (1) functional response, expressed by clearance rates; (2) tolerance to starvation, measured by growth and reproduction; and (3) vulnerability to copepod predation, measured by the number of preyed upon neonates. No major differences between B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas were found in the response to these features. Our results demonstrate the existence of a substantial niche overlap, suggesting that the subtle size differences between these two cryptic species are not sufficient to explain their coexistence. This lack of evidence for ecological differentiation in the studied biotic niche features is in agreement with the phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis but requires a mechanistic explanation of the coexistence of these species not based on differentiation related to biotic niche axes.Carmen GabaldónJavier Montero-PauManuel SerraMaría José CarmonaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 2, p e57087 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Carmen Gabaldón Javier Montero-Pau Manuel Serra María José Carmona Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
description	Co-occurrence of cryptic species raises theoretically relevant questions regarding their coexistence and ecological similarity. Given their great morphological similitude and close phylogenetic relationship (i.e., niche retention), these species will have similar ecological requirements and are expected to have strong competitive interactions. This raises the problem of finding the mechanisms that may explain the coexistence of cryptic species and challenges the conventional view of coexistence based on niche differentiation. The cryptic species complex of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis is an excellent model to study these questions and to test hypotheses regarding ecological differentiation. Rotifer species within this complex are filtering zooplankters commonly found inhabiting the same ponds across the Iberian Peninsula and exhibit an extremely similar morphology-some of them being even virtually identical. Here, we explore whether subtle differences in body size and morphology translate into ecological differentiation by comparing two extremely morphologically similar species belonging to this complex: B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas. We focus on three key ecological features related to body size: (1) functional response, expressed by clearance rates; (2) tolerance to starvation, measured by growth and reproduction; and (3) vulnerability to copepod predation, measured by the number of preyed upon neonates. No major differences between B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas were found in the response to these features. Our results demonstrate the existence of a substantial niche overlap, suggesting that the subtle size differences between these two cryptic species are not sufficient to explain their coexistence. This lack of evidence for ecological differentiation in the studied biotic niche features is in agreement with the phylogenetic limiting similarity hypothesis but requires a mechanistic explanation of the coexistence of these species not based on differentiation related to biotic niche axes.
format	article
author	Carmen Gabaldón Javier Montero-Pau Manuel Serra María José Carmona
author_facet	Carmen Gabaldón Javier Montero-Pau Manuel Serra María José Carmona
author_sort	Carmen Gabaldón
title	Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
title_short	Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
title_full	Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
title_fullStr	Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
title_full_unstemmed	Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
title_sort	morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/1421f12896ed40ef82b4024fe02eaea7
work_keys_str_mv	AT carmengabaldon morphologicalsimilarityandecologicaloverlapintworotiferspecies AT javiermonteropau morphologicalsimilarityandecologicaloverlapintworotiferspecies AT manuelserra morphologicalsimilarityandecologicaloverlapintworotiferspecies AT mariajosecarmona morphologicalsimilarityandecologicaloverlapintworotiferspecies
_version_	1718422712915853312

Morphological similarity and ecological overlap in two rotifer species.

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